Napping-machine.



N 717 841. FATE T 1) JAIL-6 1-9-03.

G. W. GREENE. N E

MAPPING MACHINE.

- APPLIGATIGN ,IILED AUG. 30, 1894.

K0 MODEL. 4 QHEETS-SHBET 1 I'ATENTED JAN. 6,1903.

G. W. GREENE;- NAPPING- MACHINE.

APPLIUATIOH FILED AUG. 30, 1894,

4'gunmssnnm 2.

K0 MODEL.

G. W. GREENE.

NAPPING MACHINE. I APPLICATION FILED AUG. an, 1894.

N0 MODEL.

'PATENTED JAN. 6, 1903.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

6Z0: K WW7, 6% M No. 717,841. 7 PATENTED JANPG, 1903. G. W. GREENE. NAPPING MACHINE. APP-LIGATIGF FILED AUG. 30, 1894.

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4 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

114: mass PETERS cu, gfloriwwon'vnsmmfomy, a

UNITED STATESY PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE w. GREENE,- oE'wooNsooKET, RHODE ISLAND.

MAPPING-MACHINE;

V SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 717,841, dated January 6, 1903.,

Application filBd August 30,1594. serial ntjtzinoe. at. model.)

To all whom, it may concern;

Be it known that I, GEORGE W. GREENE, of Woonsocket, in the county of Providence and State of Rhode Island, have invented certain napping-machines in which rollers having metallic teeth are mounted upon and have bearings in the head of a drum and are so contrived that while they are revolved about the axis of the drum they are rotated upon their own axes in such manner that when the teeth of the rollers come into contact with the cloth carried through the machine they may pick; up or lift out the fibers from the surface of the fabric into a nap. It is desirable in this class of machines that the rollers should be made to act with greater or less degrees of energy or napping effect upon the cloth, in accordance with circumstances, and this has generally been efiected by varying the speed or retardation of the rollers or by varying the speed with which the cloth was carried through the machine or the force or energy with which the cloth bore upon the napping-rollers. It has been ascertained that if the napping-rollers are driven at a substantially unvarying speed upon their own axes and the speed of the drum is varied to suit circumstances much better results are obtainable than may be secured in any other way; and it is the object of the present invention to provide improvements whereby this desirable end may be secured.

It is also the object of the invention to provide improvements whereby the guide-rolls may be operated, so as not only to guide the cloth through the machine as usual, but at the same time keep it distended, so as that the napping-rollers may act thereon evenly and to the best advantage.

Reference is to be hadto the annexed drawings, and to the letters marked thereon, forming a part of this specification, the same letters designating the same parts or features, as the case may be, wherever they occur.

Of thedrawings, Figure l is the driving end of the machine, the drum-shaft and its immediate adjuncts being shown in section and the pulleys removed. Fig. 2 is a view of the opposite end of the machine, the upper portions of the frame being broken away, as in Fig. 3 is a vertical central sectional 'view of the machine as shown in Figs. 1 and I Fig. i is a sectional plan view of the cylinder and some of its adjuncts designed particularly to illustrate the manner in which the cylinder is differentially driven with respect to the napping-rollers.

Fig. 5 is a detail view -in plan, drawn to anenlarged scale, (parts being represented as broken out,) of one of the guiding rollers or .rods employed in the machine.

In the drawings, 66 designates the frame of his the napping-rollers d are journaled in such manner that while they may be revolved with the cylinder around its shaft they may turn independently on their own axes. The napping-rollers d are provided at one end (in the presentinstance at the driving end of the machine) with pinions e, which are engaged by a gear-wheel f, arranged. to turn upon the cylinder-shaft 12 independent thereof. The gear-wheel f is provided with a sleeve g, which extends outward on the drum-shaft, and upon this sleeve the tight or driving pulley h is keyed, as is clearly shown in Fig. 4, while the loose pulley 71 is arranged to run freely thereon. It will now be seen that if power is ap plied to the pulleyh, seats to drive the same,

'end of the-machine. -.At-its opposite end the shaft of the gigging-roller is provided with a pulley m, over which and over a pulley n on the cylinder-shaft runs. a belt 0, the said belt also passing about a tightening pulley p, which may be adjusted in any suitable wayas, for example, by adjusting the journal of the pulley in a slot p (shown by dotted lines in Fig. 2) to keep the belto taut. A sprocket chain q connects the sprocket-wheels j 70, so that the rotation of the driving-pulley it will through the medium of the sprocket-chain q and its sprocket-wheels rotate the gig-roller l, and the pulleys and belt heretofore described at the opposite end of the machine will act to rotate the cylinder. It will now appear obvious that as the means for rotating the cylinder are intermediate of, connected with, and operated from the means for rotating the napping-rollers by making the pulleys m and n (constituting a part of the said intermediate 'means for rotating the cylinder) changeable, so as to vary their sizes, the speed at which the cylinder is driven may be varied without varying the speed of the means for operating the napping-rollers or the speed ofxthe latter on their own axes.

Napping of cloth is effected in machines of the character described by equipping the napping-rollers with suitable metallic teeth, imparting to the said rollers a planetary motion-that is, a motion or movement in an orbit. The construction and arrangement are usually such that the napping-rollers will be carried forward, as it were, by the cylinder and the teeth thereof caused to strike into the cloth Where they come into contact therewith. The rotation of the rollers in the reverse direction will cause the teeth to lift or draw out fibers from the threads into a nap. When it becomes necessary to vary the napping energy of the rollers upon the cloth in machines as now commonly constructed, the speed at which therollers are rotated on their own axes is varied. This not only causes the teeth of the said rollers tostrike into the cloth with varying energy, but to pull or lift out the fibers with corresponding energy. This operation, particularly when the rollers are operating quite energetically, is not productive-of the best results. By my improvements the nappingrollers can be adjusted as to speed, so as to lift or pull out the fibers from the threads of the cloth as desired, and the speed of the cylinder regulated to suit the character of the cloth being acted upon. This mode of operation of the machine has been found to be productive of much better results than that first described as practiced on machinesas nowcommonlyused. Furthermore, by providing means for varying the speed of the cylinder instead of changing the speed of the napping-rollers a delicate adjustment of the energy with which the napping-rollers operate maybe secured, for the reason that the speed of the cylinder can be considerably varied without more than appreciably varying the energy with which the napping-rollers act upon the cloth, whereas it is difficult to adjust the speed of the napping-rollers to any extent without quite materially affecting the napping energy with which they operate, and, besides, the machine is rendered materially simpler in construction and mode of operation than machines now employed for a simisprocket-chain t.

tended and smooth. this, I corrugate, groove, or otherwise form lar purpose. In order to keep the cloth distended laterally or properly stretched width- Wise and rendered smooth and without wrinkles when it is presented to the napping-rollers to be acted upon by them, (a thing essential to the perfect napping of the cloth,) important improvements forming a part of this invention have been devised by me and will next be described.

On the gig or brushing rollerlthere is keyed or otherwise affixed a sprocket-wheelr,aroi1nd which and around a sprocket-wheel s, turning on a stud connected with the frame, passes a Compounded or connected with the sprocket-wheel sis a pinion M, which meshes with a gear-Wheel v, turning on a stud w on the free end of an arm as, pivoted upon the frame at y, so that the gear-wheel a: will be held in mesh with the pinion'u'by gravity. Comp'ounded orotherwiseconnected with the gear-wheel o is a sprocket-wheel z, about which and about sprocket-wheels a on the ends of the guide rolls or rods 19- there passes a sprocket-chain 0, so that the guide rolls or rods may be driven. This is of very great importance, since it not only provides for carrying the cloth through the machine, but furnishes as well meansadapted to-be so-constructed and arranged asto keep theclothdis- In order to accomplish the guide-rol-lers with uneven lines running spirally around the surface of the guide-rollers from their center toward their ends in opposite directions, as is shown in Fig. 5, and as the guide-rollers are independently driven and may be, andin practice in fact'are, driven faster than the cloth is moved it follows that they will act to distend the cloth and free it from wrinkles.

To obtain the best results, I construct the machine so that there shall be a rotary'clothspreading guide-roll on each side of each line or point of contact of the cloth with the napping devices in order to perfectly spread'the cloth at such lines or points and permit the napping-rollers to act evenly and uniformly thereon. This important function is not accomplished where the guide-rolls are not-constructed as cloth-spreading rolls and rotated as described.

01 is a guiding-pulley, of which there may be any necessary number, to guide the sprocketchain c in such course as to make it engage such of the sprocket-wheels a as may be desired.

In the operation of the machine the cylinder will be moved so as to revolve the napping-rollers forward in a direction contrary to the movement of the cloth, while the said napping-rollers will be rotated on their axes backward. The effectof this will be to cause the teeth of the napping-rollers to strike into the cloth and, catching the fibers, raise or pull the same out into a nap on the face of the fabric. It will be understood that by IIO varying the speed at which the cylinder is driven the degree of energy with which the napping-rollers act upon the fabric will likewise be varied.

The feeding-in roll 6' and carrying-rolls f will be rotated in any suitable or well-known Way. In some cases'l may equip the machine so as that the feeding-in roll and the first following guide-roll may move in unison. One wayof accomplishing this is by means of a gear 9 on the shaft of the feeding-in roll e, which meshes with and drives a pinion h on the shaft of the first following guide-roll b, the gear g and feeding-Vin roll e being driven by means of abelt 11, passing about pulleys 3'' audit, respectively, on the cylinder-shaft and the shaft of the feeding-in roller. In this case the feeding-in means will be operated in exact unison with the drum.

0" indicates the line of the cloth. 1 is a screwrod for adjusting the. arches m, in which certain of the rotary guide-rolls are journaled, and '12 is a screw-rod for adjusting certain of the guide-rollers with respect to the gigging or brushing roller Z. These and some other parts which form no part of the present invention and the operation of which does not modify the present improvements have not been described in detail herein, such description being considered unnecessary.

Having thus explained the nature of the invention and described a way of constructing and using the same, though without attempting to set forth all of the forms in which itv may be made or all of the modes of its use, it is declared that what is claimed is- 1. A napping-machine comprising in its construction a rotary cylinder, rotary and revoluble napping-rollers, rotary cloth-feedingin and carrying rolls, rotary guide-rolls and means for operating the latter at a greater speed than the cloth is moved, the rotary. guide-rolls being provided with uneven surconstruction a rotary cylinder, rotary and revoluble napping-rollers rotary carrying and cloth-spreading guide-rolls, the rotary feeding-in roll, and gearing connecting the feeding-in roll with the first following rotary guide-roll, whereby the last-mentioned rolls are moved in unison.

. 3. In a napping-machine, the combination, with operative napping-rollers, of rotary carrying-rolls, rotary cloth-spreading guide-' rolls, and means for rotating the guide rolls at a greater surface speed than the carryingrolls.

4. In a cloth-napping machine, in combination, the rotary cylinder, the napping-rollers carried thereby, driving mechanism whereby the said rollers are rotated in their bearings carried by the cylinder, and motiontransmitti'ng connections intermediate said driving mechanism and the cylinder for r0- tating the latter, said connections having provisions to enable the rate of speed transmit- .ted to the cylinder to be altered at will, to

Vary the napping action.

5. In a cloth-napping machine, in combination, the rotary cyliuder,the napping-rollers, driving mechanism whereby the said rollers are rotated in their bearings carried by the cylinder, and driving connections for the cylinder having provisions'to enable the speed of the latter to be varied at will, to

modify the napping action.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification, in the presence of two. subscribing Witnesses, this 24th day, of July, A. D. 1894:.

GEORGE W. GREENE.

' Witnesses: V

JAMES A. LEE, .WILLIAM TITTER. 

